caveat emptor, buyer beware? that's all for now. "politicsnation" starts right now. thanks, chris. tonight's lead, they are getting dirty. five days to go, president obama's campaigning in three states today. meanwhile, republicans are going ugly. mitt romney is trying everything he can to shake up the race. that is the real story of what is going on in the campaign now. romney's forces are responding to new polls showing president obama leading in swing states. up by six in iowa, up by five in ohio, and ahead in other key states, including new hampshire, be virginia, florida, wisconsin, colorado, and nevada. and today, a major endorsement coming from new york city's

independent mayor michael bloomberg. no question, this is a close race but today in wisconsin the president went after one of the key points in governor romney's closing argument to voters. >> the closing weeks of this campaign, governor romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly. and he is offering them change. he's saying he's the candidate of change. well, let me tell you, wisconsin, we know what change looks like. and what the governor is offering sure ain't change. >> it sure ain't change. but governor romney is good at changing on every position and doing anything to win. on the trail, he's trying to sound warm and cuddly. he's now taking a soft attack.

the new york times quoting him on the trail as saying, democrats love america, too. gee, governor. thanks for that. but that soft attack apparently ends there. because behind the scenes, republicans are starting to go into their get ugly, to do anything to win this election. in miami, he's running a spanish language ad tieing president obama to fidel castro and hugo chavez. yes, venezuela dictator hugo chavez. that's apparently a-okay with mitt romney. [ speaking in spanish ] >> here's the translation. he approves that message. but the desperate kitchen sink politics don't end there. mr. romney's pushing the widely debunk claim that president obama is waging a war on

welfare. it's the same lame story with his comments about jeep shipping jobs overseas. that's all ugly enough. but then there's this. he's bringing out the king birther, donald trump, to make robo calls and campaign stops in key swing states and the ugliness extends beyond the walls. they have taken to the airwaves with this low piece of political slime. >> obama claimed in a muslim country that america is not a christian nation, said congress had better things to do when it reaffirmed in god we trust. better things than trusting god? like what? >> this is what a desperate campaign looks like. this is what it looked like when a candidate will go to anything that he can to win.

no matter how objectionable, no matter how ugly. joining me now is richard wolffe, vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. and michelle cottle, washington correspondent for newsweek and "the daily beast." thank you both for being here. >> thanks, rev. >> michelle, it's not a surprise but it seem like we're in a phase where behind the romney smile is a very rough campaign? >> absolutely. we've got a few days left. we have entered the phase of the campaign where time and again you can go there and get the little bit of an edge and radio ads that are shocking, billboards that are deceptive, voter suppression, voter intimidation, whatever it takes. >> voter subpoena prek, voter

intimidation. but linking the president to hugo chavez and say we don't believe in god we trust? this is way beyond the boundaries. >> you have to hit people in the gut. you're not appealing to reason at this point, if you ever are, in a presidential campaign. you've got to get them in a gut level to get your allies all fired up and to, you know, hopefully get anybody still on the fence to really just kind of find some way to get through to them and get them over to your side. >> richard, what does this say? the politics of desperation, what does it say about romney? does it mean he and his team is worried? >> he's never had an exact close relationship with the truth anyway. he doesn't mind whether it's fact-checked. after all, he said he wasn't going to be dictated to by the fact checks or checkers. and that's a direct quote. so they have been trying to play this kind of game plan for a long time and to be fair to

them, it's actually worked. it's worked in the debate. reinventing itself, it's not new and it seems to give them some traction. the problem for them, they are not just pushing again the president's lead in the polls but they are pushing against the news cycle. a hurricane-led news cycle that has put the president full square as commander in chief with bipartisan support. you've got to cut through the news cycle or what the president has projected. the only way to do that, as michelle says, is to go for the gut. >> well, i think that the advantage they have in trying to pull the cape off, if there is an advantage, is money. look at the outside spending in the 2012 presidential race, michelle. 85% has gone to support romney or to oppose president obama. 85% of the money is going

against the president, yet he's edging ahead. >> it has been remarkable how much money has been spent and how much influence the outside groups have had. so it's going to be interesting to see the morning after this whether this is seen as like the cycle of the super pac triumph and a new way that these things are going to run or if obama pulls it out, whether this is going to be seen as a lot of wasted money on the part of folks like sheldon adelson. >> what is the danger of this, richard, in terms of this all of this money? or will it be rethought if, in fact, the president is deterred? >> well, a lot of promises were made to those super wealthy people that it would be affected. they are going to have to go back after all, most of them are super wealthy people and ask were those promises ever delivered? never mind about who wins.

every dollar that they have spent has gone less far than the campaign. they don't get the same ad rates. so a dollar of the koch money is not the same as the obama campaign. they get lower rates as the romney campaign does from tv stations. that's just the facts of life. it's the rules of the game. so if you are super wealth they, you have not moved the dial and they are probably not going to take back the senate. they've got to ask themselves, why did i waste 20 million, 30 million of personal fortune? maybe it's chump change for them. i suspect even billionaires find 10, $20 million hard to swallow. >> trying to hold on to the end, michelle, because even you have karl rove saying that they are going to win. he's calling the election for mr. romney, he writes in "the wall street journal" today, my prediction, sometimes after the cock crows on the morning of

november 7th, mitt romney will be declared the president with romney carrying 279 electoral votes, probably more. is karl rove trying to give comfort to his financial backers, here's a group or do you really think he believes it? >> i think karl rove incredibly shrewd. he knows that voters want to go with winners and you want to protect the idea that your guy is going to be the winner so that those soft supporters will back him and pull that lever and perhaps help you out to that degree. so i don't know if he believes it, but i certainly think he wants everybody else to believe it and he knows that this is a really shrewd strategy on his part. >> reverend, i interviewed karl rove in the white house three days before the 2006 midterm where he promised that republicans would hold on to the

house. they lost the house, the senate. he said at that time to me, you've got your mess but i've got my mess. this is karl rove's mess and it's the same mess that he tried to play before the 2000 election when he said -- promised reporters, swore to us that he was going to win california, taking 320 votes in the electoral college. >> the same karl rove? >> the karl rove math. >> michelle, while romney has gone ugly and negative and he has a new ad out and uses the endorsement of colin powell. take a listen. >> will you endorse president obama? >> yes. when he took over we were in one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. and i saw, over the next several years, stabilization come back in the final community. housing is starting to pick up. the president saved the auto industry. >> so he's touting his record. he has a are republican colin

powell touting his record. he's going positive in the -- in light of all of this ugliness. >> he is, although if you listen to the radio ads that are around in virginia, which is a big swing state, he also has some groups out there who are doing something akin to what the republicans are doing. not to quite the same degree but scaring people about health care and guy rights and stuff like that. but the obama people know that he has had this opportunity with sandy to get out there and look extremely presidential, to be bipartisan, to kind of wear the mantel of commander in chief in the midst of this national tragedy and they think that that is to their benefit and, of course, people see that and they are playing on that sort of thing, too. he has the advantage of office and it's not to be sneezed at at this stage of the game. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> thanks, rev. tonight, a developing investigation into mitt romney's plan to train an army of poll

watchers to intimidate and mislead you at the polls. it's a big, important story and we have exclusive new video the romney campaign has been trying to stop you from seeing. also, the gop's freak kout over chris christie. they just can't deal with this praise for the president. and now it's sinking to a new low. and george w. bush has a big october surprise for mitt romney. and he's definitely not going to like it. all of this, plus the great gloria steinem right here on "politicsnation," msnbc. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring.

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have you joined the "politicsnation" conversation on facebook yet? today everyone loves this photo of the president comforting a jersey resident hit hard by hurricane sandy. michael calls it genuine compassion. paulette says this picture touches her heart and pat says, the president is an excellent comforter-in-chief. how do you think the president has been handling hurricane relief? weapon want to know. head over to facebook and click politicsnation, it the conversation that goes long after the show ends. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, conversation that goes long after the show ends. the conversation that goes long after the show ends. the conversation that goes long after the show ends. the conversn that goes long after the show ends. i the conversation that goes long after the show ends. t the conversation that goes long after the show ends. ' the conversation that goes long after the show ends. s the conversation that goes long after the show ends. it's the conversation that goes long after the show ends.

one of the main reasons mitt romney is tailing in this election is because of the anti-women policies of his campaign and of the republican party as a whole. the latest headlines on this is a congressional candidate named john coster who was caught on tape at a fund-raiser this weekend. >> the rape thing, you know, i know a woman who was raped and kept the child, gave it up for adoption and doesn't regret it. how does -- how does putting more violence on to a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better? >> koster's campaign claims the tape was, quote, edited.

we asked them exactly how. they thought the tape was edited in some way. but we have yet to get a response. plus, on their website it says, he very clearly and honestly stated his thoughts on an extremely sensitive subject. he has nothing to be ashamed of here. in fact, it seem ts like a lot of republicans feel they have nothing to be ashamed about. 13 gop senate candidates agree that the government should force a woman to have her rapist baby against their will, one of them todd akin in missouri, was ostracized after his comments about legitimate rape but now his state party and perhaps even national republicans that jumped on board to back him, akin is now using their money to bank roll a new ad campaign defending his abortion comments. mitt romney is desperately trying to defend he's moderated

his views on women's issues. but republicans aren't playing along. i am very pleased and honored to have the legendary gloria steinem in the studio with me. she's a writer and the magazine s she co-founded is still going strong, and a voting guide to the election. gloria, thank you. >> thank you. >> what is your take on the gop campaign in. >> these folks are not republicans. they are pseudo pro choice. nixon supported the equal rights amendment. the old right wing that we remember so much from the democratic party, the old

dixicrats took over the republican party and that's who these folks are. i mean, a true conservative is not going to want to get government off the backs of corporations and into the wombs of women. >> you co-founded this magazine and did you ever think 40 years later that you would still be fighting some of these same issues? i mean, it's almost unbelievable, like we made such progress and now you're fighting some of the things that you had to turn around in '72? >> well, as you well know, when you have a front lash and when the majority of the folks in this country, then you have a backlash. >> right. >> and we have now the majority support on all of the social justice issues that you and i care about and so the people who

believe in a way through no fault of theirs, but nonetheless they cling to the idea that people have to be ranked, male about female, white above black, class above class. we are linked as human beings. these categories don't mean anything. >> right. >> and they are in a panic. they are in a panic because women have rebelled. they are in a panic because in 20 minutes it's not going to be a majority european or white country anymore. so the same people who are hostile about immigration are also hostile about contraception and safe and legal abortion which, incidentally, one in three american women needs at some time in her life. >> now, the evidence that you write about the majority, when you look at the latest polls, the president is leading in key states among women. virginia and florida he leads by

ten points. colorado, he's up by 13 points. in wisconsin, he's up by 14 point. iowa, new hampshire, he's ahead by 16 points. in ohio, 17 points. so clearly the american public and women are going with their interests in this election, according to the poll. >> yes, they are. but i think there is still a lot of women -- and i have been out there lately in five or six states talking to women who are always late deciders because they are busy with their kids, they have three jobs. and also women who were born into the republican party, it feels like home to them and don't yet know it isn't the republican party and once they

realize that they didn't leave it. it left them. so let's just talk about the issues and vote out of self-respect, then it changes and especially when you consider that this is the first presidential candidate in my lifetime, long lifetime, who doesn't even support equal pay. >> really? >> and equal pay is, inci

they are not going to invest china. they are going to create jobs and even that they are against. >> is row versus wade in trouble? >> yes, it's been in trouble for a long time because they are by actions in state legislature. so poor women and young women have already had many of their rights taken away. but romney is doing something that has not had a lot of publicity which he has retained the human life amendment which would go around even the supreme court and pass a constitutional amendment saying that the fertilized egg is a person. all right. this is like nationalizing women's bodies. it's insane. and it's the reason that the ultra right has been focusing on

state legislators in recent time, they discovered that bombing abortion clinics and murdering doctors was not making them popular. but by focusing on legislatures, they are preparing for a human life amendment which romney supports and then i don't know what to say that he has no such plans, he's really telling two big lies. i've been out there now for a long time and he's telling women two big lies. one, that every one of their children will have a debt of $58,000 from the national debt without telling them that that debt would be bigger if easy elected because he's spending so much more militarily and not taxing rich folks. >> absolutely. >> he's telling them that and saying he has no plans to overturn roe v. wade on the same

time that it's on paper and ryan certainly -- a choice of a vice presidential candidate certainly says it. this is the most right wing in his position whether he believes it or not, i don't know. but also the least honest. he is the least honest mosts plastic candidate i have seen in my lifetime. >> wow. gloria steinem, it was really great to have you on this show tonight and thank you so much for your time and your service. >> thank you. coming up, the right wing attacks the hero in a jealous rage. they can't handle chris christie praising president obama and you won't believe what they are saying about him. plus, the investigation into the romney campaign training poll watchers to mislead. we're learning it's much bigger than we ever could have imagined. the new video is out. stay with us. new trident layers juicy berry + tangy tangerine

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a new investigation into how the romney campaign it training poll watchers with misleading information. they will do anything to win. that's next. ♪

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earlier this week revealing a misleading training manual in wisconsin. but today we're learning it could be much bigger and widespread than we knew. it's called project orca. it relies on 34,000 volunteers in swing states. today, an exclusive report on one of them. iowa. they are training poll watchers to, quote, be on the lookout for anyone who tries to vote without a photo i.d. but there's a little problem with that. there is no photo i.d. law in iowa. that means you don't need a photo i.d. to vote. check out the training video made specifically for iowa. >> there may be an instance where the voter fails to show an i.d. and they are still permitted to vote. if you see this, alert the team

so they can handle the team and you can get back to handling voters. >> alert the legal team so they can handle the problem. why? you don't need a photo i.d. in iowa. after the video was posted, the romney campaign scrubbed the original voting video and released it. so why would the romney campaign train poll watchers in key states with information that could disrupt the voting process? hmm. i guess i just answered my own question. joining me now is scott who broke the story and joe madison, nationally syndicated radio host. thank you for your time tonight for being here. >> good to be with you. >> scott, you were here with us on tuesday and now you have even more on the romney campaign to challenge voters. what can you tell us?

>> that's right. the romney campaign was using this as part of this new process orca that detailed for months now the romney campaign has been training tens and thousands of poll watchers across the country and so we uncovered one of the training videos that was used in iowa where, as you show, they are showing deliberate misinformation about what the law requires for voters to prevent when they get to the poll. now, the problem is going to be once they start issuing poll challenges for folks that don't show up with photo i.d., that's going to end up slowing the process and resulting in folks who aren't able to cast the ballot because it went so slow when that's not even what the law requires. >> now, joe madison, "the huffington post" says the romney campaign believes that project orca is beyond anything that any campaign has tried before. quote, what is different about romney's campaign approaches that it will be utilizing

smartphone technology to receive more data in realtime, allowing it to quickly redirect resources to areas where there may be low turnout and get voters out to the polls. >> and that's exactly right. we've never seen this type of sophistication before. look, if i took you back 40, 50, 60 years, we would call it voter intimidation. well, we know what dixicrast did to intimidate. they were known as jim crow. what we have going on in the 21st century in 2012 is jim crow's cousin, james crow esquire. this is what people need to know. they have planned this for months. this has been going on for months under the radar. it's now out in the open. two, i suspect that t they'veee scott and others will probably keep finding out and we're lucky to find it out just a few days

before the election. >> absolutely. >> and finally, reverend sharpton, i will say this again. this is where you tell people, get out of my face because, remember, none of these people have legal authority. they have no legal authority to stop you from voting and that's what you've got to remember. just simply tell them to get the you know what out of my face and go in there and vote. >> now, we started seeing this in wisconsin, now iowa and elsewhere. scott, some liberal bloggers have suggested that project orca could lead in this sophisticated apparatus that we're talking about to voter suppression. give you an example. one blogger, nate samuel downs, quote, for instance, one can hang out in a populi and when they see a person with obama

sticker on it, they snap a picture and do a direct and focused attack on the voting rights. >> you don't even need to get into that. you can see what they are training their poll watchers to do and say. they are training them to say anybody with a felony on their record is not allowed to vote and that's simply not what wisconsin law says. if you served your sentence in wisconsin, you are legally allowed to vote. if you show at the polls in iowa without a photo i.d., you are legally allowed to vote and that's not what the romney materials are telling folks. >> i was just going to add, imagine you mentioned a bumper sticker. what happens if reverend sharpton a church van shows up with elderly people or a nursing van shows up with he will material people? the same thing could happen because, once again, they are targeting president obama's base. >> now, we also have political

reporting by sheldon adelson announced a smartphone app. quote, votestand will allow users to send photographs or videos of perceived illegal voting or improper electioneering to a team of experts that are interested in and investigating this issue. all of this is really towards having an unusual and possibly intimidating presence around the voting process. >> well, it is intimidating. look, jim crow used the rope. james crow, esquire, using an app. it's all the same. voter intimidation. >> and all of it is voter intimidation and i think that

james crow, esquire, needs to make some freedom fighter juniors. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, george w. bush's november surprise. he's going somewhere and he's got to be making governor romney nervous. and why the right wing is freaking out over chris christie's praise for the president is getting ugly. stay with us. humans -- sometimes life trips us up. and sometimes, we trip ourselves up, but that's okay. at liberty mutual insurance we can "untrip" you as you go through your life with personalized policies

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we're just five days from election day, but for millions of american, it's already come and gone. more than 21 million americans have already voted, either in person or by mail. and our facebook fans have been spending us their best early voting pictures. angela sent us this photo of her and her smiling 4-year-old son who came along with her to vote. she says he loves standing in line the whole 2 1/2 hours. michelle and tiffany ran into former congressman nick lambston when they went to vote in texas. he's running to replace ron paul. if you're having any problems at the voting booth, tweet us @politicsnation and use protectthevote or come to our page and message us. #protectthe

page and message us.

welcome back to "politicsnation." former president clinton has been one of the big stories in this campaign. tirelessly helping president obama in critical swing states. and then there's former president george w. bush. he's out doing something that makes the romney camp very nervous. is is he praising the president like governor chris christie has been doing? no, not that. what president bush is doing might even be worse for romney. he's jetting to the luxurious cayman islands today to give a message about investing money there. the lush palm trees, bright white sand, glorious sunshine

and, of course, the secret bank accounts. >> we are home of the finer things life has to offer and global financial services. we are the cayman islands. tap into the wealth of investment opportunities available in the cayman islands. >> in other words, it's a perfect place to hide your money. something the governor knows all about. romney's invested as much as $8 million in funds on the island with another multimillion dollar base there. and his old company bain has set up nearly 140 secret offshore funds in this tropical paradise. governor romney, did you think you could sweep all that under the are rug before election day? nice try, governor. but president bush, he got you. a cup of joe is a sedan.

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that type of leadership. i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> that's new jersey governor chris christy praising president obama and eliciting howls of outrage from the gop. after all, christie's their hero. he's their guy. he's the one that a lot of them actually wanted to be the nominee. mitt romney had chris christie give the speech at the keynote convention. >> i have behind me a man who is an american hero. he's a real hero in republican circles because he's been forthright. we agree on a whole host of issues. i think we're pretty sympathetic on the issues that matter today. >> hmm. i wonder if romney would still say that he's sympathetic on the issue of president obama.

republicans can't accept the idea that one of their favorite republicans would actually work with the president to help americans in need and so it's getting ugly. >> new jersey governor chris christie has decided to play the role of a greek column today for president obama. chris christie's the only republican -- not just praising obama. i mean, it's -- it's -- let me just put it this way. is it wrong for one man to love another man? but that man love out there has isolated to the state of new jersey. well, i'll tell you what i have observed casually with my busy broadcast eyes. and my cochlear implant ears -- >> that's pathetic, even for

rush limbaugh. the right wing works the daily caller said if romney loses, christie would surely be tagged for and ann coulter said, i think he's hoping to use obama to plug a dyke. president obama has proven he's the true bipartisan candidate in this race. chris christie even said so. and you do trust what governor christie says, don't you, mr. romney? >> he's a real hero in republican circles because he's been forthright. >> i think we're pretty sympathetic on the issues that matter today. >> joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, now an msnbc news political analyst and maria teresa kumar, an msnbc

contributor. thanks to both of you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> governor, what's the damage to mitt romney's campaign from all of the christie praise for president obama? >> well, it's significant damage and, remember, with chris christie you get the whole package and it's someone who is honest, who is forthright, who when come sun does a good job to help the people of his state is going to say so. that's chris christie. he doesn't hold back. the damage is significant. one, president obama looks like the one who could reach across party lines. two, because chris christie praised him for taking strong and defen tif action in an emergency. that's what a strong leader is all about. and, three, because chris christie and barack obama agree that government has a role and government is important and that cuts against the whole story line that mitt romney has been saying for the last six, seven, eight months. >> maria, today mr. romney said

who he is the candidate who can reach across the aisle and work as a bipartisan candidate. watch this. >> i'm going to be meeting regularly and when i say regularly, more than once a year. it's important that we have a president who understands how to work across the aisle. >> but greg sergeant at "the washington post" writes, romney claims his leadership skills give him an ability to forge agreement between differing parties to get things done that obama has proven he lacks. now americans are being treated to images of a republican governor extensively praising obama for working with him cooperatively and displaying leadership and propensity for quick action at a time of crisis. can't be good, maria, for the romney side anyway.

>> it's not good at all. let's not forget, governor christie was the keynote at the national convention. and delineating, making a case for why we needed romney's leadership. because he's seen the suffering on the ground he's saying, this is beyond politics and partisanship. we need to know what is good for the american people and romney's camp is scrambling, shaking their head and trying to find out what to do next. they don't have anything. the fact that president obama has stepped up basically does believe that there's a role for government and christie validates that. the folks that we've been able to see, the national guard, firefighters, every day workers, individuals that are unionized and also folks that the romney campaign wants to tear down, had it not been for the federal government and state and local governments working together. >> we're winding down in the last five days and republicans are making a last-ditch effort in pennsylvania.

a big play there five days leading into this election. romney's super pac restore our future made a $2 million ad buy. the koch brothers, americans for prosperity, bought $3 million to date and the romney campaign has made $120,000 ad buy the day before the election and election day itself. but the latest poll in pennsylvania shows obama 49 and romney 43. >> it's really about a five-point race and you can't make up five points in a week, especially because there's so much clutter on tv with all of

the other candidates, it's hard to break through. if romney had gone on the air in pennsylvania the day after the first debate and stayed on the air at 5, $6 million a week for the four weeks, he might have had a chan of sneaking in. but he hasn't been in the state very much. ryan was in the state once. this buy for one week is truly a hail mary pass. what they figured out is that ohio is gone and they can't make the electoral map and that's why they are in michigan and pennsylvania and in minnesota. they've got to pull out one or two of those states to have a chance and i don't think they are going to pull out any of them. >> and you're correct, the race is 49/43. i was talking to one of the demographics. it's 49/43, a five-point gap. let me ask you this, maria, before we run out of time. the base of democratic party, women, minorities, are they energized, in your opinion, and will they turn out? >> i think early voting in florida, ohio, even what you're

seeing in colorado you're seeing a big force of individuals coming out and in record numbers. the fact that people are staying overnight to vote early is testament that they recognizes that this is about us, about every day americans that we are pulling the country first and pulling it together. >> governor, for those that are watching you that have not voted, they are not in the early voting state or if they are, what is your message to them five days down? we just have come out of a horrific storm. we have a bipartisan view of the president. what do you say to them at home in. >> well, first of all, we don't have early voting. the legislator wouldn't do anything and for all pennsylvanians and everybody else, the president hasn't been perfect but he inherited the worst set of problems that any president in my lifetime has inherited and he's made each area better. >> i've